How would students complete science laboratories in a virtual school? The students that attend the virtual school I am studying complete their labs in the way I described earlier in this blog (see How the Science Class Works, Friday 3/14/08). Middle School students do labs at home with their own supplies, under parental supervision. High School students get their lab supplies sent from the school. These labs are all actual labs using real equipment and supplies. What kinds of labs are available that are virtual?
I went online to find some services available to teachers and schools that offer online laboratories. The first website I found was called ExploreLearning, which offers interactive math and science simulations. They offer online science activities for grades 3-5 and 6-8. The link is http://www.explorelearning.com/
For grades 3-5, ExploreLearning offers lessons called "Gizmos" in the areas of Radiation, Weight and Mass, Summer and Winter, Germination, and Ants on a Slant (Inclined Plane). I decided to investigate the Weight and Mass unit. See http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm?methold=cResource,dspDetail&ResourceID=653
This website gives more of the details of the activities. Students use a balance to measure mass and a spring scale to measure the weight of objects. The program converts the masses and weights on Earth to the same on Mars, Jupiter, and the Moon, for comparison. The website lists the learning objectives, the vocabulary, and the National Science Education Standards covered by the unit.
Another website I looked at was called the Schlumberger Science Lab, offering experiments and projects to do at home or in the classroom. Some of the virtual experiments offered are: Design Your Own Universe, Galileo Drops the Ball, Friction Explorer, Viscosity Explorer, Doppler Train, Earthquake Epicenters, and Geologic History of the Earth. The website also offers more science lab projects about air and space, earth science, electricity and magnetism, and properties of liquids. The link is http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/lab/index_virtual.htm. It looks like these labs would be suitable for middle school and possibly high school students.
The University of Virginia hosts a virtual lab that appears to offer high-end laboratories for college students. The link is http://virlab.virginia.edu/VL/home.htm
When I navigated through some of this website, I found interesting demos and graphics of DNA, scanning tunneling microscopes, nanotubes, and buckyballs, but did not find a way to enter the actual virtual lab. I will keep investigating this website.
Finally, back to the issue of AP labs and College Board approval. From what I can tell, the College Board has adopted lab criteria to determine if lab experiences in science courses qualify to use the AP designation. The National Research Council published these criteria as goals for laboratory experiences. The criteria are:
1. Understanding the complexity and ambiguity of empirical work
2. Developing scientific reasoning
3. Understanding the nature of science
4. Enhancing a mastery of subject matter
5. Developing practical skills
6. Cultivating interest in science and interest in learning science
7. Developing teamwork abilities
I found these criteria at a website that sells AP labs licenses. The company is called Smart Science, and is can be found at this link: http://www.smartscience.net/SmartScience/SmartScienceAPBioLabs.html
This link is for teaching the AP Biology course, the site also offers labs for chemistry and physics. I am the most familiar with the requirements for AP Bio, as I have taught it in the past. There are 12 required labs that are covered in a year of AP Bio, and these labs may be included on the AP exam. Upon looking at the website, it appears that all 12 of the labs are included. Unfortunately the demo did not give me too much insight into how the laboratory works, nor did the website give pricing for their product.
I have mixed opinions about the feasibility of using virtual labs in science courses. If a student can do the lab physically at home with either home equipment or school-supplied equipment, then the lab would most likely meet the educational goals it was designed for. Would a student be able to achieve the same goals if the lab was done entirely on the internet, and no equipment was touched? I think it would depend on what the goals were. It would be difficult for a student to learn how to replicate difficult lab procedures while watching someone do it online. On the other hand, if the goal was to teach someone how to collect and analyze data, and draw conclusions from that data, I don't see why they couldn't do this in an online setting. What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I have used the ExploreLearning site with my students. However, I was not familiar with Schlumberger or UVA. They are great resources. I sent them to all the science teachers at my school just in case they haven't seen them.
You ask a valid question regarding hands-on versus online science labs. It would be an interesting research project if it hasn't already been explored. My personal answer for questions related to one medium versus another is it's all about the design. I'm sure there are interactive online experiments that are designed better than hands-on and vice versa. The question then becomes "what makes a good interactive online experimental design?"
I am curious about the validity of hands-on versus online science labs as well. You make a great point about using a lab based on the primary skill the teacher wants the students to learn. If the goal is to get students to master the use of bunsen burners or measuring beakers, a virtual lab would make it difficult if not impossible to do so accurately.
Perhaps the barrier is our own experiences with science. When I hear the word 'lab', I think about the labs I did in Chemistry. These were labs best supervised by a 'professional'. Obviously, for numerous reasons, virtual schools cannot send chemicals through the US mail to students who may not use them correctly. Being unfamiliar with science curriculum causes me to question how labs can be done without the supervision of a science teacher. I do not know what labs the students are required to do nor do I pretend to understand what it entails to do the labs.
I do think the best way to create online science labs is to investigate them thoroughly before trying them out on students. Even then, the developers of the lab should be open to reconstructing and redeveloping them.
What happens if the students parents are either out of the picture or unreliable? I agree that most of the Chemistry labs I did in school need proper supervision, not just supervision.
On the other hand, I'm wondering if some virtual labs would enable students to "work" with virtual items that in the real world would be too dangerous, rare or expensive. Virtual explosions seem muh safer than real-life would.
Post a Comment